SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/18/2016 11:07 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The False Shepherd
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zech. 11:15-17
Message of the verses: “15 The LORD said to me, "Take again for
yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 "For behold, I am going
to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek
the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour
the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. 17 “Woe to the worthless
shepherd Who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye!
His arm will be totally withered And his right eye will be blind.’”
First of
all we want to better understand the word foolish, and most of the translations
that I looked at the Hebrew word “‘eviliy
ev-ee-lee’” is translated “foolish,”
however in a few it is translated as “worthless.” Dr. Wiersbe writes that the word does not
mean stupid, but it means morally deficient, corrupt, and the reason is because
he does not receive God’s truth. Also as
stated worthless can be used and that is because he does not care for God’s
sheep. Now some of you who have been
following my Spiritual Diaries in the book of John may have seen some of the
comments that Jesus made about certain kinds of shepherds that are seen in the
10th chapter of John’s gospel.
In that chapter Jesus stated “I am the good shepherd,” and then He goes
on to say that the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, which is
what He did, but this is the opposite of whom we are looking at in this section
of Zechariah, for we are talking about the anti-Christ.
Remember we
talked about Israel rejecting the true Shepherd, and for this reason one day
many of them will accept this false shepherd.
Jesus said in John 5:43 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not
receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.”
Those who
remember our study in the ninth chapter of Daniel will remember verse 27 which
says “"And he will
make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of
the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of
abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction,
one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.’” The highlighted section speaks of the anti-Christ
making a seven year covenant with the nation of Israel. It is believed that the people of Israel
believe that this man will protect them, but as we read the rest of the verse
we see that that protection only last for half of the seven years. You can read more about this covenant in 2
Thessalonians 2:1-12 and also Revelation chapter 13, and I have also looked at
these sections and they are on the blog.
Revelation in 2015 and both books to the Thessalonians were in 2014.
It is
somewhat of a mystery as to why the Jewish people rejected their Messiah, and
yet will accept this false messiah, but blind people do things that are
blind. However there will come a day
when the nation of Israel will all be saved as Paul writes in the book of
Romans, and I believe that time will come during the tribulation period when
their eyes will be opened to the truth and they will reject the antichrist and
receive the real Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God will
judge this false shepherd, the antichrist and throw him into the pit along with
Satan and then Christ will set up His kingdom for 1000 years as seen in the 19th
chapter of Revelation. This kingdom has
been promised to the nation of Israel back in the OT and the length of it was
added from the book of Revelation.
In our next
SD on the book of Zechariah we will go back to the ninth chapter of Zechariah
and look at some of the things that are seen in the sermons by John MacArthur
and will stay with those sermons until we get through this eleventh chapter of
Zechariah.
8/18/2016 11:29 PM
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